The Wizard Hunt
by Lac Lausanne
Summary: Gargamel has the tables turned on him. Now it's his turn to become the hunted.


The Wizard Hunt

It was his worse nightmare, what had he been thinking? It started off as a simple experiment to change himself into a Smurf but this time he would get the potion right, so he would have a Smurf tail and no-one would suspect him. This meant that he would not have to rely on glue to stick it on.

His third attempt at changing into a Smurf was a success, he was the right colour, had the correct clothes and he had a tail that he could wag.

Before doing the experiment he finally learnt from experience and made sure that Azrael was locked up in a cage with some food and water. He had enough of that feline trying to eat him every time he became small.

"Ah-ha! Azrael, look it's worked, I'm a proper Smurf! Now I'll be able to infiltrate their village and burn it to the ground. I've learnt how to speak Smurf. It's not that difficult just add 'Smurf' in any conversation, does not have to make any sense at all," He jumped around the floor of the hovel feeling very pleased with himself.

He went over to Azrael's cage and said "Now don't worry I'll let you out soon enough. If you look at the lock of your cage there is a mechanical clock on it and in four hours it will unlock the cage and release you. Now I'm off to the Smurf village and if I hang around some Smurfberry bushes one should come along soon and I'll befriend it."

Azrael just lay his head down on the bottom of the cage and sighed as he watched his diminutive owner running out of the hovel.

Gargamel took about half and hour to get to the Smurfberry patch and he sat down on the grass to wait for some Smurfs. "All I've got to do is wait for some to turn up and be nice to them. Oh! That's going to be so hard, being nice!" he shuddered with disgust as he said this.

In the meantime, Gargamel's plans were unravelling faster than he could have ever dreamt. Whilst he had been doing his experiments the Smurfs had been keeping and eye on him. They did this regularly just to try and keep one step ahead of him. They employed Spy Smurf to do this important job. He was a double agent and sometimes gave Gargamel information that gained his trust. But deep down Spy Smurf was only loyal to his people the Smurfs.

As a good Smurf, Spy Smurf ran as fast as he could to the village and informed Papa Smurf of the evil wizard's plan. Spy Smurf also told Papa some important information. Gargamel looked like a Smurf alright but he was a tiny Smurf. He must have got his potion wrong. This gave Papa and some of the other Smurfs a great idea, it was too good to miss and they felt that the evil wizard should have a taste of his own medicine for once.

Papa sent a few Smurfs back to the hovel to confiscate the potion that would enable Gargamel to change back into a Human and be normal sized. Once they got the phial back to him the contents were analysed and Papa changed to composition of the potion so that if Gargamel took it he would change back into a Human but still stay smaller than a Smurf. The elderly Smurf just thought the whole thing was very funny and together he and Brainy Smurf were in fits of laughter trying to think of what they would do to him.

Gargamel whilst waiting for a Smurf to turn up was starting to daydream and he was trying to think about the last time he had turned into a Smurf. He was sure that the daisies had not been as big last time and that the ants had not looked as dangerous as they did now. Then an awful feeling started to creep over him. "Oh, no! My formula is wrong, I'm smaller than a Smurf!" he shrieked to himself and jumped up onto his feet.

A voice from behind the Smurfberry bush answered him, "Yes Gargamel, it seems you got your potion wrong and we managed to find your antidote and have brought it to you as we are so kind you see," said Papa Smurf coming out of the bush and handing a small cup of liquid to the tiny Gargamel Smurf.

For a moment Gargamel was taken aback by the size of Papa and he could feel his knees start to knock uncontrollably. The normal sized Smurf towered over the wizard and for the first time in his life he knew what it felt like to be a Smurf and he wondered how they managed whilst being so small to still be strong and brave. All he wanted to do was faint on the spot from sheer fright.

"Thank, thank you... stammered Gargamel," But how do you know who I am?" he stammered again, "We've been watching you, we always keep an eye on you so don't think you can try and fool us. We learn fast and ultimately we will always win," said Papa with a glint in his eye.

The small cup was in the wizard's hand. He was thinking whether to drink it or not when Papa made his mind up for him. "Drink the antidote, we will be smaller than you again but we will run fast and you won't catch us," This was all that Gargamel needed to hear, he was ashamed to have shown fear in front of these little blue demons. Once he was normal sized he would soon show them who was boss and he would make them pay. Oh yes, they would pay dearly for trying to terrify him!

He brought the cup up to his lips and downed it in one go.

"Mwa,ha,ha,ha! Just you wait you pesky little Smurfs I'll be able to squash you like worms in a few seconds, you'd better start running!" he shouted to the village leader.

Gargamel could feel the potion working and he saw his hands change from blue to pink and gain an extra digit and his clothes changed back to black and red. But he thought his eyes were deceiving him. He had not changed height, he was now himself but he was still tiny and the Smurfs were giants in comparison.

All the evil wizard could do was drop the cup and fall to his knees holding his hands together as if in prayer. "Please don't hurt me, I won't do it again I promise!" he pleaded tears streaming down his podgy face.

But Papa was not falling for it "You always say that when you are not winning. We are bored of hearing it. We have all decided to have some fun with you and at the end of it, if you survive, you will learn a very valuable lesson," answered Papa Smurf his face looking stern.

Behind him lots of other Smurfs started to appear they all had nets and they looked exited as if they were going on a butterfly hunt except that this was a 'Gargamel Hunt!

Papa Smurf held up his hand and talked to the gathering crowd of Smurfs "Now we must give him a chance, he will have a ten minute head start on us and if he gets back to the hovel before we capture him then he is safe, if not then he will remain as a tiny Human and we will keep him for our amusement. Agreed?" A loud cheer went up from the crowd and they swished their nets in the air to emphasize what they were going to do.

Gargamel got up off his knees and dusted himself down. He had tried pleading and he was getting nowhere. He would play their game and he was sure that he would be able to get back to the hovel before they caught him.

"Alright Papa, if that's the deal then I'll play you nasty little game. But you know that I'll win and you'll wish that you had never set eyes on me," he growled with all the menace that he could muster under the circumstances.

"Your time starts...NOW!" answered Papa and he turned an hourglass over. The sand started running and so did Gargamel.

He could hear the crowd of Smurfs screaming after him their voices were deafening and soon enough they faded away and he pushed his way through the undergrowth trying to find his way back to the hovel.

But he had felt too confident. He had no idea what it was like to be tiny and every blade of grass or fallen twig was a gigantic obstacle to overcome and he could feel himself getting very tired without moving very far.

Behind him he could hear another cheer that must mean that the ten minutes were up and they were now coming for him. He pushed deeper into the undergrowth, maybe he could hide himself until they gave up and went home and then he would sneak back to the safety of his hovel but then he would have to contend with Azrael as the lock on the cage was due to open quite soon.

At the base of a tree he found a small hole. He dived into it and lay on his back feeling the cool earth making his cassock damp. His breath was coming thick and fast and he tried his best to calm himself down but his heart was threatening to jump out of his chest as he could feel mounting terror at the thought of being captured by the giant Smurfs. If they did not get him he felt sure that he would have a heart attack.

A few more minutes passed and Gargamel could not hear anything outside his hole. His breathing and heart rate had gone down but he was shaking with fright and when he held his right hand out in front of him it was trembling terribly.

"Take a grip of yourself!" he chided himself, he had faced many dangerous adventures before, but for some reason the thought of being chased by giant Smurfs was always his nightmare and now it was real it seemed even more terrifying.

He carefully peeked out of his hole and before he knew it he was up in the air caught in a butterfly net. He screamed all the way up and all the way down as the net swooped. He had been caught! The Smurfs were gathering around the mouth of the net. They are all leering at him and laughing he just wanted to run, get out of the net but terror consumed him and as a giant Smurf hand started to close around his body and lift him out his mind decided to close down until the nightmare went away and he went into a dead faint.

Clumsy Smurf was holding the limp Gargamel in his hand "Oh Papa, have I hurt him or something, I didn't mean to," Papa came over and used put a finger on the wizard's chest. "He's still alive I can feel a tiny thundering heartbeat. Come let's bring him back to the village. We'll have our fun once he comes round,"

The sunlight was hurting Gargamel's eyes. He turned over in his bed and faced the other side of the room away from the window. As his eyes adjusted he could see that he was back home. The familiar bed that he lay on, the dusty floor of the hovel, his large wooden table and his potion books. But as he continued to stare a bit longer, things did not seem quite right. The dream that he had about being chased by Smurfs had seemed real enough but something about his hovel was troubling him.

He sat up and pulled back the covers. His bed sheets were all muddy he had not even bothered to get changed. "How odd, why would I get into bed fully dressed?" he murmured to himself. He walked over to his bookshelves and tried to take a book down and the whole side of the shelf came down with it.

"The Gods, what is going on here?" He could feel panic rising in his throat and he tried to keep it down. When the roof of his hovel came off and a Giant Papa Smurf grinned at him, he just screamed and screamed.

Then End


End file.
